The Young Widow
by Eystjee
Summary: Charlotte Collins will do anything to get her parents to notice her... and that's become impossible as she's reached black belt in art after art and graduated her second year of college at just 16. Maybe though, just maybe, breaking into Stark Tower, stealing the plans for the Iron Man armor and building one of her own will be enough to finally get her parents approval.
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone! So, this is an Avengers/Marvel fanfiction. I do not own any of the characters except Charlie. I do not own any of the settings either. I hope you like it! Please feel free to comment with any questions or comments you have :) I'm always happy to answer questions about my books. _

Charlie laced up her running shoes and started running around the track at her high school. Her shoes slapped against the red pavement, her music playing loudly in her ears. No one else was on the track, or even at the school, this late on a Friday night. The lights that usually lit the track didn't turn on as the sun sank behind the skyscrapers that also hid the moon from view. A beep played through her music and Charlie stopped running, sliding into a full open splits in the grass on the edge of the football field and reaching down so that her nose rested on her left knee and her hands wrapped around her foot. She stayed there till the next beep played and then switched legs, then reached down to the middle next. Charlie finished stretching and quickly ran through all of the forms for taekwondo, throwing in a dozen jumping jacks in between each one. She stopped once she reached 2nd dan black belt and began working through karate next, switching arts again once she passes the first black belt form.

Her music paused as her alarm on her phone went off. It was 10:00. Charlie turned off her alarm and finished the form she was in the middle of. She walked over to her large messenger bag sitting on the edge of the track and pulled out her clearly homemade laptop. She unlocked it and the program she had started before beginning her workout popped back up. She quickly checked over the code and smiled. Tony Stark had created his own defensive software for stark tower, including the AI, JARVIS, that ran most of his company. Charlie was looking right at all the coding that made the whole tower tick. She pulled a flash drive out of her bag and inserted it into the USB port on the side of the laptop and opened the file it contained, inserting her code into Stark's. Hitting enter, she began packing up quickly. JARVIS wouldn't be down for very long and it would not take long before Stark realized he had been hacked. It would take him a few hours to figure out where the signal had come from and probably a few days before he realized that it had come from her laptop and not one of the computers in the lab at the school.

Once her stuff was packed, Charlie ran through the city to the back of Stark Tower. She put the scrambler over the card scanner and after a second, slid a fake promotional card through the scanner. The door unlocked and Charlie was inside, ducking into the girls room closest to the back door. She closed the lid on the toilet in her stall and opened her laptop again to the program that she was using to keep JARVIS and the other security systems from tipping off Stark to her presence. She threw the scrambler into her bag and changed into a button down shirt and slacks. She opened a new file and tapped out a relatively harmless virus and inserted it into JARVIS's programming. Owl City started blaring through the whole tower and Charlie smiled, tapping out a second set of code. All the doors were unlocked and the cameras were down. Charlie pulled her ginger hair into a professional looking bun and switched the contacts she wore while she trained for the glasses she usually wore while the code finished working it's magic. She packed up her tech and clipped a fake ID badge to her collar. She switched her running shoes for flats and added a bit of mascara to her lashes and gloss to her lips. She looked like any new intern would.

Charlie left the bathroom and walked further into the building, walking with her head held high, trying to appear like she belonged there. So far it was working and Charlie paused to look at a map of the building in the lobby. Stark kept his suits of armor in a specially locked room in the basement, but Charlie wasn't interested in the already built suits of armor. She located Stark's office on the map and made her way to the elevator and rode it to the floor Stark's office was located on. She made it unnoticed into the office and began looking around in the cupboards and drawers for the plans for the Iron Man suits.

"What are you doing?" A voice asked behind her and Charlie froze.

"Just looking for Mr. Stark." Charlie stood up straight and turned to see who had entered the room. It was Pepper Potts.

"He's not in here. Who are you?" She asked, her hands on her hips and a look that could probably make weaker men wither before her.

"I'm Charlotte, Charlotte Collins, the new intern. I was told to report to Mr. Stark when I got here." Charlie said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear and trying to look sheepish.

"We don't have new interns starting today. And they're supposed to meet with me. Mr. Stark doesn't meet with interns. You want to try that introduction again?" Ms. Potts offered and Charlie dropped her act.

"I'm just leaving." Charlie said and moved to walk past Ms. Potts and out the door.

"Nope," She said and grabbed Charlie's arm, "Mr. Stark is going to want to speak with you."


	2. Chapter 2

"Why aren't we calling the police right now?" Tony Stark was pacing in front of Charlie, the rest of the Avengers sitting on various services around the sitting room in the penthouse at the top of Stark Tower.

"Because she's a minor and we want to know why she was in your office first," The less buff blonde guy said.

"I want to know _how_ she got into your office first," the black guy standing next to the couch said, "She didn't have an ID that would have let her into the building, much less the office."

"Good point, how did you get in?" Tony turned sharply to face her.

"If I tell you, I'd have to kill you." Charlie said blankly, staring ahead.

"Mr. Stark, I have located the computer that was used to hack the security system." JARVIS announced and Mr. Stark turned his attention briefly from Charlie to the tower.

"Thank you JARVIS." Mr. Stark said and JARVIS began speaking again.

"The first signal was sent from Midtown High, the second from the Lady's bathroom on the first floor near the back door. The same computer was used both times."

"Thank you JARVIS," Mr. Stark turned his attention back to Charlie, " How did you hack my security system?"

"Well, I'm not going to say that I did, but if I had, I would have used a simple, nonlethal virus to distract the security team and cover my tracks while I was getting in and getting out. Then I of course would have had to send in an actual virus or personally delete my presence there." Charlie said.

"I like this girl." The red haired woman said and Mr. Stark shot her a dirty look that she returned.

"I designed that system myself. There is no way anyone, much less a teenager, could have hacked into it and gotten past my security team." said and Charlie failed at restraining her laughter. turned sharply and glared daggers at her.

"I'm sorry sir, it's just, I've been working systems like this for years. I think I actually hacked into this one once before this too. Jessie said it wasn't possible, so I proved her wrong. Didn't believe me when I showed her though." Charlie said.

"I really like this girl." The redheaded woman declared and Charlie smiled at her. She returned the smile and looked to the buff blonde one that didn't need a haircut, probably for support.

"I'm sorry Stark, but I'm with Nat. This girl is awesome. She shouldn't have broken in, but with a bit of guidance, I think she'd be a great addition to the," He paused for a second, "Company," He settled on a word and rolled his eyes.

"Kitchen. Now." He snapped and everyone stood up and began walking out of the room, "Not you." He said, pointing at Charlie. She sat back down with a huff and pulled out her laptop while everyone else was in the kitchen talking. She brought up the video game she was working on building in one window and the screen of code in another. She tapped out a few lines of code, switched windows and had her character walk over to the NPC she was working on and clicked on him. The text appeared just like she wanted, and she was able to go through the interaction without issue. She saved the code and began working on the store in the village. She still hadn't managed to get the swords to spin how she wanted, and the NPC running the store was still making a face.

By the time everyone came back out of the kitchen, the swords were spinning correctly, but the NPC was still making weird faces, and Charlie had only succeeded in making it worse. Everyone coming out of the kitchen seemed to be in one of two categories: Happy, or Stark. Everyone took up their spots they had vacated earlier, except for Nat and , who switched places.

"Classes start first thing on Wednesday. Tony will be picking you up Monday evening. Have everything packed, there's a list in the back," She handed Charlie a spiral bound book, "Tuesday will be your tour of the campus and you'll be moved into your dorm. The book explains almost everything and everything else doesn't matter till later."

"Wait, what's happening?" Charlie asked, her laptop long since returned to her bag.

"You're going to a training facility for people with potential to become part of our team but we don't think are quite ready." The less buff blonde guy said bluntly, "It's that or juvy kid, trust me, this is the better offer."

"You guys want me to become a superhero?" Charlie asked, leaning forward, this was sounding crazy.

"Maybe eventually. There's a long way to go before you get to that point though." Nat said and Charlie nodded.

"What about my family? Are they coming?" Charlie asked.

"Nope. Just you. Any classes you're taking at the high school are offered through us, and sports won't be an issue. You'll visit home on the weekends unless you arrange otherwise, and our cafeteria food is better than the stuff you'll usually get. We've even got a couple people about your age so you probably won't be too out of place" Nat explained and Charlie nodded.

"That sounds way better than juvy." She agreed and the two buff blonde guys and the guy with brown hair that wasn't smiled like they were trying not to laugh, "I guess I'll see on Monday then?"

"Yes. Clint will drive you home now." said courtly.

"What? Why do I have to do it?" The less buff blonde one who's name was apparently Clint asked indignantly.

"I don't live that far, I can walk." Charlie offered and Nat shook her head.

"Boys are dumb anyways. I'll drive you," She said and walked out of the room, Charlie scrambling to collect her things and follow, "What's your name? Tony never actually introduced you."

"Oh, um, officially or what people call me?" Charlie asked and Nat shrugged.

"Both."

"Officially I'm Charlotte Collins, to people who aren't school teachers and my parents, I'm Charlie. It sounds less stuck up and more friendly." Charlie explained and Nat smiled.

"I'm Natasha Romanoff."

"You're the Black Widow." Charlie said, surprised that she didn't recognize her.

"That's my assassin name. I prefer Natasha or Ms. Romanoff though. I'll be one of your instructors starting on Wednesday as well. Steve and I are in charge of training you guys with potential. Hacking will not be allowed on campus. Too much of everything and even some of our trainee's rely on tech. We can't have people messing with it."

"Of course not Ma'am. Only authorized hacking." Charlie smiled.

"You'll be rooming with Peter for the first few days while we get your room put together. It shouldn't take very long, longest was a week and a half and that was because we had some... technical difficulties." they climbed into one of Mr. Stark's cars and started through the city to Charlies house.

"It's this red one on the left." Charlie said once they could see her house and Ms. Romanoff pulled up the the curb and Charlie climbed out.

"I'll see you on Monday." Ms. Romanoff said and Charlie nodded, closing the car door. The car pulled away and Charlie climbed the steps to her house.

Charlie eased the door open and closed it softly behind her. The house was quiet, most likely everyone was already asleep. Charlie hurried quietly up to her room, changing quickly and climbing into bed. Knowing her parents, if she didn't make a fuss, they wouldn't even notice she had been out as late as she had been.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey guess what! I got accepted into a private school for super heroes!" Charlie told her reflection, violently brushing her hair, "And they don't even care! 'yes honey, that's fantastic!' 'Nice job Jessie...' ' you couldn't have! You're just a nerd' prove to them I'm not just some worthless middle child. Stupid Carl doesn't even know what he's talking about either." She threw her brush into her drawer and stomped back to her room, muttering about her parents and how she was going to prove that she was better than Jessica one of these days. She flipped open the suitcase on her bed and took a deep breath.

"You're going away. Where you're cool and people notice you exist. Mom and Dad won't be there to forget you. Carl won't be there to pick on you. And Jessica won't even know where you are to come and show you up. You're going to be an Avenger. Be happy about it." Charlie said to herself and finished rolling the last of her shirts into the bottom of the luggage. Her pants went in next and within the hour the larger of the two suitcases was full of her clothes, and there was a giant donation pile next to the door.

"Besides," Charlie started packing her books and other oddities into the small suitcase and the duffel bag, "they don't care so why should I?" She finished and quietly brought her luggage down to the entry way and stacked it by the door.

"Where are you going?" Jessica asked, looking up from her book and her parents looked over as well.

"Well, I would tell you but then I'd have to kill you, besides, you wouldn't be interested." Charlie snarked and Jessica rolled her eyes returning to her book.

"Charlotte, where are you going?" her mom asked.

"Don't call me that." Charlie hissed under her breath before facing her mother, "I've been accepted into _another_ school for gifted people. A representative from the school is coming to pick me up today. Didn't think you cared." Charlie shrugged and saw her mom's shoulders slump a little out of the corner of her eye.

"I care if we have guests coming that you never told me about." she said and Charlie turned again and looked her mother dead in the eye.

"I did tell you. Saturday morning at breakfast, and then again last night at dinner. Except you clearly weren't listening because here we are. Don't worry, I doubt they'll send someone dangerous or hungry." Charlie said and put her headphones in, a song of her own writing was playing at the moment and one of the girls in her choir class during her high school year had written the words and acted as the singer in this particular song. Charlie opened the front door and moved her luggage to the front porch, taking a seat on the step and pulling out her laptop. She opened her video game and ran through a few encounters before opening the code to the game and adding an in game player menu so she could customize her player. Returning to the game she tested her code and then flipped back and fourth a few times, making small changes and adding some new features.

She looked up and pulled out her headphones a while, and lots of progress later, when she saw a pair of shoed feet approach. It was the buff blonde that didn't need a haircut.

"Nat said you like to be called Charlie?" He asked and Charlie stood up to shake his hand.

"That would be me. What do people call you Captain?" Charlie said, having looked up his name the night before.

"Captain Rogers works," He smiled.

"Well, Captain Rogers, I don't mean any offence, but I was told Mr. Stark would be picking me up this evening," I said, following him with my duffel as he carried the two suitcases.

"He complained about it the whole weekend so I came early to come save you from his lectures and intense stairs," Captain Rogers explained.

"Thank you, I get the feeling he doesn't exactly like me," I helped him put my bags in the trunk.

"Yeah, I'm afraid not. He doesn't take kindly to people trying to get into his toys. Where are you going? Car's right here."

"I need to tell my parents you're here, "I said gesturing to the door.

"Right. It's been a while since we've had a kid join us." He followed me back up to the house.

"MOM! DAD! CAPTAIN AMERICA IS HERE TO TAKE ME TO MY NEW SCHOOL!" I yelled and my parents looked up from where they were when I had left.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Collins," Captain Rogers said and smiled, "Would you mind if I came in and had a word with you?" Charlies parents nodded, a little star struck to say much, "Thank you." I led Captain Rogers into my living room and sat on the floor while he sat across from my parents.

"I assume you both know that Charlie is a brilliant girl. I've gone over her records with my colleagues and I must say that we are impressed. Impressed enough to help her turn her brilliance into doing some major good in the world, rather than into breaking into Stark Tower." Captain Rogers explained.

"She broke into Stark towers?" Charlie's mom asked, her face going white.

"Yes, and would have been successful in making off with whatever it was she was after -"

"The plans for the iron man suits," I cut in and Captain Rogers nodded.

"She would have been successful in making off with the Iron Man suit plans if Ms. Potts hadn't walked into his office while she was in there. As I was saying, she's been accepted into an Avengers training program where she will be training under a few of the current avengers to become part of the next generation of super heroes. It's a very private program and each individual is hand chosen by Mr. Stark and his group of, advisers," He paused and looked at Charlie's parents, as if asking if they had any questions, though they were still a little dumbstruck and remained silent.

"It's a boarding school, so you won't have to deal with me unless they kick me out," Charlie smiled at them and stood up, "Should we get going?"

"Yes," Captain Rogers stood up and we walked to the door, quickly leaving my old life behind.


	4. Chapter 4

"You're the new girl Ms. Romanoff was talking about, right? She gave a speech about it yesterday at dinner," The brunet boy Charlie was sharing a room with for the first few days said excitedly.

"Oh, yeah, I'm Charlie," She stuck out her hand and the boy put down the stack of papers and computer pieces he was holding to shake her hand.

"Did you go to Midtown?" He asked, sitting down and tinkering with his computer bits.

"Oh, yeah, I graduated a few years back though, I'm not sure you'd have been in while I was there," Charlie sat down on the other bed.

"No, not in any of the classes, but you're on the track team, and you have a few awards in the trophy case by the office," He pointed out, "I'm Peter Parker by the way. I should have already introduced myself. Why'd they let you in though? They won't let just anyone into this program."

"I got into a bit of trouble with Mr. Stark and so they said I could come here and hone my genius, or go to jail and face criminal charges for trespassing," Charlie looked down at the bracelet Mr. Stark had slapped on her as soon as she had walked through the doors into the school, embarrassed by how she had gotten there.

"Ohh, cool. Why'd you do it?" He asked.

"Do what?"

"Trespass on Mr. Stark's space."

"Oh," Charlie smiled tightly, "I was trying to borrow the plans for one of the iron man suits so that I could build myself one. Would have worked too if Ms. Potts hadn't been making a trip to Stark's office while I was looking for the schematics." Peter paused his tinkering and looked up at her, pure awe on his face.

"You bypassed his digital security, his manual security and made it all the way to his office unnoticed?" He asked dumbfounded.

"Yeah, wasn't too hard either. Scrambler for the card reader so it'd accept a false ID, two doses of a nonlethal virus to keep the digital security at bay while I got in and out and a professional outfit paired with a confident walk always works on the security team. I looked like I belonged," Charlie explained with a shrug.

"Teach me," Peter said and Charlie smiled.

"I would, but this," She showed him the bracelet, "Won't let me into the computer lab and they confiscated my laptop. Apparently I'm a 'hack hazard.'"

"You _did_ hack into stark tower."

"Exactly. Do you know where Ms. Romanoff is? She said she wanted to see me when I got here and I haven't seen her yet," Charlie asked and Peter nodded.

"She's probably at the the shooting range. She's not teaching a class at the moment. And I wouldn't be too embarrassed about the bracelet. We all have them," He showed her his, "They're like JARVIS but little, and our access passes. Yours just has restrictions. Here," He pinched it and a hologram screen popped up, "There's the map of the school, there's where your training schedule will be once they get it posted for the week, there's the internet, and there's the phone."

"how does the access pass thing work?"

"Next to all the doors is a black box thing with a red light. Bracelet goes on top, like so," he demonstrated on a small book, "if the light turns green, the door unlocks and you can go in. Red light blinks, you don't have access. And of course, Mr. Stark gets a record of who used which boxes at the end of every day."

"Awesome, thank you so much!" Charlie thanked Peter and followed the map in her bracelet to the shooting range. Charlie tried her bracelet and was surprised when she got access to the room.

"Ms. Romanoff?" She asked, looking around the room.

"Try the dance room kid," Clint came out of one of the allies, bow in hand.

"Oh thank you mr..." Charlie trailed off, not knowing how to address the man in front of her.

"Clint Barton. I thought you weren't coming till tonight."

"Captain Rogers picked me up this morning so I wouldn't have to ride with Mr. Stark," Charlie explained and shook his hand.

"That makes sense. Be careful how you interact with Nat. There's a reason she's the black widow," Mr. Barton warned and Charlie thanked him, following her map to the dance room.

"You're early," Charlie had barely stepped into the room before Ms. Romanoff came out of the splits and addressed her.

"Um, yeah, Captain Rogers picked me up and Mr. Barton told me I should come find you," Charlie explained.

"Through there. Locker with your name on it, first password is 1234 but you'll need to change it. Get dressed fast and come back out. And if you see her, tell Miley to stop lurking and come warm up."

Charlie walked into the locker room and opened the one with her name on it.

"This has got to be a really bad joke," She said, holding up the pink leotard and matching tule skirt.

"Not a joke, just the starter outfit. Everyone that's taken this class has had to wear it." Charlie turned around to see a pale girl with black hair, green tips, and a pink leotard, black leggings, pink leg warmers, and white shoes.

"You're still wearing it though..."

"Yeah." Miley rolled her eyes. "I'm rebelling."

"Wearing pink is how you rebel?" Charlie asked, going into the side room and changing.

Miley stood, and leaned against the door frame. "Do you want to know something that I've never told anyone else in this school?" she asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Umm... sure?"

Miley turned around and started heading out of the locker room. "Tough."

Charlie rolled her eyes and tried to tie her shoes on, failing miserably, but hey, they were staying on. She followed Miley out of the locker room and onto the dance floor.

"Miley, try to be nice." Ms. Romanoff sighed and turned to Charlie.

"Natasha, try to not be such a stick in the mud." Miley mimicked Ms. Romanoff's voice.

"Today is leg and foot day. Miley, I expect you to spend the day on your pointes. Go change your shoes," Ms. Romanoff instructed, "Charlie, you'll be starting with some basic beginner exercises."

Miley rolled her eyes and headed back into the changing room, mouthing things that were undoubtedly insults.


End file.
